A Complicated Emotion (1)

Kestrel found herself growing more and more impatient with these fancy parties, even though she had been to many before.

Impatience—it was a new feeling for her.

As she thought about this, Kestrel felt a bit relieved. She had been feeling a lot of new emotions lately. But she was also confused, not sure if this made her more 'normal' or 'weird'.

"Such things are the job of a beta," everyone said—doing one or two assigned chores each week, going to all sorts of Empire events and activities, joining in at fancy parties and meetings. This was what every normal beta had to do.

Ever since she was a kid, people around her believed this, so Kestrel always thought this was what she should do.

A beta is a soldier who serves the nation. Brought up in the Tower from a young age, they grow up enjoying the generous gifts given by the Empire, and naturally have duties to carry out.